


Shadow Kitten

by Inquartata (mackillian)



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 06:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18005309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackillian/pseuds/Inquartata
Summary: Tali adopts a kitten. Then kitten adopts Liara and the rest of the Normandy's crew.





	Shadow Kitten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skyllianhamster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyllianhamster/gifts).



Liara had lost Tali. However, it was also possible that Tali had lost Liara because the sequence of events leading up to the loss of her companion were somewhat nebulous.

Lack of sobriety likely had something to do with it.

It had all started with Samantha Traynor calling for a ‘Girls Night Out’ while Shepard was away doing... Shepard things that required six full Broker teams to monitor, with another ten ready to rapid deploy in case things went wrong.

With Shepard, things often went wrong. Fortunately, most of those wrong things happened to Shepard’s enemies. Usually.

In addition, Liara was usually there to monitor the teams monitoring Shepard in case they were needed to clean up those misfortunate enemies.

Therefore, before Liara departed the ship with Sam, Dr. Chakwas, Ashley, Tali, and EDI—they were to later be joined by Jack, Miranda, and Samara—for their ‘Girls Night Out’—which Sam had yet to satisfactorily explain and Liara’s extranet and Broker network searches had been less than helpful in enlightening her—she placed another five teams on standby.

Then she notified Shepard that she might be indisposed for some time.

Shepard’s reply was to say: “Have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

It left Liara with an appalling number of options for what she _could_ do.

Losing Tali had not been among them.

Nor did Liara believe it had been a planned part of Girls Night Out.

From what she had thus far experienced, the primary purpose was to become highly inebriated while in the company of friends.

Which they had, with Samara being the only exception ‘in case you find yourselves in trouble.’ Since Samara was still bound by the terms of her oath to Shepard, no one from the Normandy’s group had to worry about being in trouble with the person whom Jack referred to as ‘their friendly local justicar,’ which was good. Otherwise, the experience would have been far more dangerous.

Also, deadly.

It occurred to Liara to wonder where the others had gone, but she needed to find Tali before she began looking for everyone else.

Resisting the temptation to bring her acquisition agents in to help, Liara continued her search.

Tali’s trail revealed a night of adventure: Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, the high roller in the casino who’d cashed out early; Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, the high-scorer for seventy percent of the games in the Castle Arcade; Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, earning the top record for a solo geth round at Armax Arsenal Arena, who had then used her winnings to purchase of a top-of-the-line shotgun with delivery arranged to the Normandy. The trail would have gone cold there if not for one eavesdropper—a human whom Shepard would have described as a ‘little old lady’—who informed Liara that the quarian with the most _beautifully_ patterned enviro-suit had mentioned the Presidium Lake. And, strangely, fish.

The little old lady’s lead proved right: Liara found Tali on the Presidium, standing next to a leafy deciduous tree of Thessian origin. Nestled in the crook of her elbow was a small, furry, and likely warm-blooded creature.

“What are you holding?” asked Liara.

Tali glanced down at her arms and then her glowing eyes blinked, as if she had just remembered that she was holding something alive and the golden color of a type of clay Liara had encountered on many of her prothean digs. Liara had once believed that the protheans valued the clay for its qualities as an artistic medium.

They had not. In fact, the clay was valued because it interfered with long-range reaper signals. Javik, of course, had scoffed when Liara had mentioned it, informing her that: _‘In my cycle, we did not have time for frivolous things such as… art.’_

Joker telling him to ‘stop being such a dick about everything’ had yet to improve Javik’s interaction with the Normandy crew.

As for Liara’s current circumstance, the creature Tali was cradling was also attempting to gnaw on her enviro-suit, which seemed rather unsafe. Yet, instead of panicking, Tali gently nudged the creature’s head away with a finger and then rubbed between its upright ears. “The shop owner called it a kitten,” said Tali. “It grows into a… cat? A popular pet for humans. I can see why. Look how adorable she is!”

Admittedly, the kitten was adorable if you were one who appreciated small, furry animals.

However, the Normandy was no place for a small animal that required space in which to roam, adorable or not. Shepard’s hamster, despite living in a specifically designed enclosure, had already suffered several close calls. “We should return her to the shop. Do you remember where—”

“We can’t bring her back!” Tali sounded convincingly horrified. Perhaps even genuinely so, especially when she lowered her voice in urgency. “I _adopted_ her.” Hands positioned to support the kitten under its front legs, Tali held it up. “Bosh’tet vas Normandy, meet Dr. Liara T’Soni. Liara, this is Bosh’tet. She’s part of the Normandy now.”

“A warship is no place—”

Then someone cleared her throat and both Liara and Tali turned to find that _they_ had been found by Samara. The look of reproach she gave them made Liara feel guilty for... a lot of things.

She hoped Samara never agreed to be released from her oath to Shepard. It would be unfortunate for everyone involved.

Also, deadly.

“If Tali has entered into a contract to care for this creature,” Samara said to them, “then she must abide by its terms.”

When made by a justicar, it was an exceptionally difficult argument to counter.

Liara sighed. “Oh, fine.”

As they walked back to the docks, Tali said, “Bosh’tet found my emergency induction port! She carried it back to me in her little mouth. That’s how we met.”

“You should dispose of it,” said Liara.

Tali gasped in horror. “Liara! How _could_ you?”

“That was not—” She scowled. “I was referring to the _straw_.”

“Oh. You’re probably right. But we’re keeping the kitten.”

“Yes.”

“An agreement was made, after all,” Samara said as she nudged Tali upright with her biotics.

“Exactly,” said Tali. Then she passed the kitten to Samara. “It’s probably better if you hold her right now.”

Though her expression remained neutral, Samara willingly accepted responsibility for the kitten.

In the elevator bringing them to the Normandy’s docking bay, which always felt like a proper place to continue a conversation, Liara asked, “Tali, if the kitten aided you, why did you name her Bosh’tet?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but it feels like it suits her.”

Perhaps.

Liara decided it was prudent that she study the behaviors of kittens, but she had only gotten as far as cat vocalizations before Samara’s biotics stopped her from nearly walking off a platform and directed her in safely navigating the remaining distance between the elevator and the Normandy’s dock.

When the kitten attempted to nestle within the… chasm area of Samara’s armor, she remanded custody of the kitten to Tali.

Since they had arrived at the Normandy, the relocation of the kitten proved to be prudent. Otherwise, Joker’s commentary would have been _much_ different from his innocent: “Hey, Liara! The kitten’s eyes are the same color as you!”

Liara took a moment to study the kitten’s eyes and found that the hues did match. “Yes. I had not noticed before. That was very observant of you.”

The kitten hopped from Tali’s arms to Joker’s shoulder to the Normandy’s main navigation panel. Then she sat down and meowed at Joker.

Then Joker asked the kitten,“Who’s the cutest tiniest fuzzball who makes the Reapers tremble in fear?”

No, he had cooed at the kitten. This was a fascinating response on Joker’s part.

However, Liara hoped he did not expect a decipherable reply.

“That’s right! You are!” Joker said to the kitten. Then he looked over at Tali, who was using the bulkhead to hold herself up. “What’s her name?”

“Bosh’tet.”

He scowled. “Come on, there’s no need for name-calling. I just wanted to know what the kitten’s name was.”

“Her name _is_ Bosh’tet,” said Tali.

“Bosh’tet, huh?” Joker scratched between the kittens ears and the kitten responded by headbutting Joker’s palm. “I guess we’ll see if it fits.”

Over the following days, Bosh’tet provided them with many opportunities to evaluate the appropriateness of her name.

The first opportunity came when Bosh’tet decided that she preferred Liara’s cabin to anywhere else on the ship. Attempts to relocate her were met by pitiful rounds of meowing until Liara gave in and grudgingly shared.

The kitten liked to bat at Glyph. Liara did not mind that activity. In fact, she took great satisfaction whenever Bosh’tet landed a blow.

Glyph did not.

The kitten also liked to sit on Liara’s head. Liara _did_ mind that activity because Bosh’tet had sharp little claws.

The kitten did _not_ like being trapped in a harmless stasis and loudly objected with a litany of meows until Liara released her.

From then on, the kitten’s preferred seat was the Shadow Broker terminal.

Liara suspected that Bosh’tet was doing it on purpose, though she could not find concrete evidence with which to prove her theory.

One morning, Liara discovered that the kitten had authorized four pending Broker operations, one of which had precipitated a minor border skirmish in the Attican Traverse.

The kitten looked up at Liara with large blue and _unrepentant_ blue eyes, the little—

“Bosh’tet!”

It appeared the name did fit, after all. Perhaps Tali had experienced a moment of inebriated prescience.

As luck would have it, there were no casualties from the skirmish. While Liara sent orders for her agents to withdraw from the area, she glared at Bosh’tet. She continued to glare at the kitten while she sent out new orders to a different cell to conduct a peace operation along that same border.

Despite the sound scolding, Liara still often encountered the kitten curled up on her main terminal. Attempts to shoo the interloper from her workstation prompted the rebellious kitten to chew on cables, causing power surges and chaos throughout the ship, and the kitten to nearly electrocute herself.

“Bosh’tet!” Liara yelled as the power flickered again.

A chorus of “Bosh’tet!” echoed from the mess.

Stymied and in need of new cables, Liara gave up on work until they could be repaired.

She also needed a break from the kitten.

Bosh’tet followed.

Bosh’tet was not even _her_ kitten.

When Tali saw Liara in the mess and then proceeded to complain to her about the power surges, Liara felt compelled to remind her that _Tali_ had adopted the kitten, not Liara.

“Liara,” Tali said, gesturing around the room, “her home is the Normandy. She’s all of ours.”

“Yes she _is_!” Joker said from his seat at the table as Bosh’tet nuzzled his neck. “Who’s the most adorable tiny hell-raising beastly ball of fluff? That’s _right_! You are!”

“I think she’s good for morale,” said Dr. Chakwas. “In fact, I would classify her as an _essential_ part of the crew.”

Javik scoffed. “In my cycle—”

Bosh’tet leapt from Joker’s shoulder to land on the counter in front of Javik, hissing and arching her back, her tail low.

When she jumped up at his chin, claws extended, Javik flinched.

Flinched and took a step back, the supposedly powerful prothean warrior retreating from a… kitten.

“ _Now_ who’s the most ferocious warrior of this cycle?” Tali asked.

When Javik didn’t answer, Liara crossed her arms and flared her biotics.

After rolling all four of his eyes, Javik said in a tone that couldn’t be more flatly resentful, “Bosh’tet.”


End file.
